Marblehead home sales range from $275,000 to $1.74 million in July-August period

MARBLEHEAD -- Fifteen properties changed hands in Marblehead between July 10 and Aug. 8, according to deeds recorded at the Essex County (Southern District) Registry of Deeds, with disclosed sale prices ranging from $275,000 to $1,740,000.

MARKET OVERVIEW Fifteen sales were recorded in the four-week period, but only six deeds disclosed a sale price, which is normal for deed data and not necessarily a sign of a slow market. Among those six disclosed sales, prices ranged from $275,000 to $1,740,000, with a median of $835,000. The remaining nine transactions carried no listed consideration; as detailed below, most of those appear to be transfers among family members or into personal trusts rather than open-market sales. Based on raw count alone, 15 recorded transactions in four weeks is a moderate pace for the town; the data does not support characterizing the period as especially active or slow beyond that count.

TOP SALES 53 Gerald Rd Lot 12 sold for $1,740,000 on Aug. 4, the month's highest-priced transaction. The seller was the Eric S Levy 2001 Revocable Trust; the buyer was Annette Okereke.

12 Jane Rd Lot 28 sold for $1,015,000 on Aug. 3. Seller Audrey J Baizen, trustee, transferred the property to buyer Paul Vaivoda.

23 Puritan Rd Lot 85 sold for $900,000 on Aug. 6. Seller Arthur McLeod transferred the property to buyer Kristina Lauren Hubbard.

3 Countryside Ln Lot 1 sold for $770,000 on Aug. 4. Seller Sally A Scott transferred the property to buyer 3 Countryside Lane LLC.

12 Darling St Unit 2 sold for $635,000 on Aug. 6. Seller Wendy Jean Erselius, trustee, transferred the property to buyer Mary Kristine McElroy.

Beds, baths and square footage were not available from the deed records for any of these transactions.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN No street had more than one recorded sale in this period, so no street-level clustering emerged from the data. Grouped by price tier among the six disclosed sales: one sale, 21 Hawkes St Unit 5 at $275,000, fell under $500,000. Three sales fell in the $500,000-to-$1-million range: 12 Darling St Unit 2 ($635,000), 3 Countryside Ln Lot 1 ($770,000) and 23 Puritan Rd Lot 85 ($900,000). Two sales exceeded $1 million: 12 Jane Rd Lot 28 ($1,015,000) and 53 Gerald Rd Lot 12 ($1,740,000). The remaining nine recorded transactions did not disclose a price and are not reflected in this breakdown.

MARKET NOTES Ten of the 15 recorded deeds referenced a lot, unit or parcel number (Dartmouth Road, Westport Lane, Puritan Road, Darling Street, Thomas Circle, Gerald Road, Countryside Lane, Beverly Avenue, Jane Road and Hawkes Street), indicating those properties are condominiums or subdivided parcels rather than standalone single-family lots. The other five deeds, at West Shore Drive, Arrowhead Road, Bowden Street, Lafayette Street and Russell Street, carried plain street addresses.

Seven of the nine undisclosed-price transactions show the same individual as both seller and, in a modified form (often with "TR" or a family trust name attached), as buyer: examples include 138 W Shore Dr (Kenneth S Rodgers to Kenneth S Rodgers, trustee), 30 Dartmouth Rd Lot 12 (Kevin Neumann to Kevin T Neumann, trustee), 80 Lafayette St (Shannon H Casey to Shannon H Casey, trustee) and 30 Russell St (Gregory W Burt to Gregory W Burt, trustee). Two other undisclosed-price transfers, 2 Arrowhead Rd and 1 Thomas Cir Lot 7A, involved a family-named trust receiving property from an individual sharing part of that surname. This pattern of within-family or into-trust transfers, common in estate planning and record-keeping, accounts for the bulk of the sales that lack disclosed pricing; the Registry of Deeds data does not indicate the reason for these transfers, and none is implied here.

Separately, three of the six disclosed sales involved a trust selling to an unrelated individual buyer: the Eric S Levy 2001 Revocable Trust to Annette Okereke at 53 Gerald Road, Audrey J Baizen, trustee, to Paul Vaivoda at 12 Jane Road, and the Stephen C Lane Trust to Jeffrey Whitmore at 21 Hawkes Street. One sale, at 3 Countryside Lane, went to a limited liability company rather than an individual buyer. No square footage data was available to assess price-per-square-foot outliers.

Recorded Deeds

Source: Registry of Deeds. Sale amounts shown as recorded; transfers without a disclosed consideration are noted as such.

Compiled from official town feeds, community organizations, and local press. Outside reporting is attributed inline.